Search form

Scotland have only themselves to blame if Super Typhoon Hagibis knocks them out of RWC

BY: Loop Pacific 10:21, October 11, 2019

259 reads

Eddie Jones insists the blame is Scotland’s alone if they are knocked out of the World Cup by Super Typhoon Hagibis.

The Scots will miss out on the quarter-finals if their match against hosts Japan in Yokohama on Sunday suffers the same fate as England’s clash with France and New Zealand’s game against Italy and is cancelled due to the approaching cyclone.

But Jones has limited sympathy for Gregor Townsend’s men given that all teams knew the potential for extreme weather events to intervene, highlighting the need to take them out of the equation.

England secured qualification with a game to spare, unlike Scotland who opened their campaign with a depressing defeat to Ireland. Jones said: “We have been talking about it all the time, about the possibility that this was going to happen.

“You know what’s going to happen. It’s typhoon season here and you’ve got to be prepared for it. We had an idea it could happen and therefore you have to accumulate points in your games to put yourself in the right position in case that happened.

“We just knew that there was the possibility of a game like this during the tournament so we just wanted to put ourselves in the best position we could.

“This is supposed to be a big typhoon, so I don’t see any other option that the organisers had. That’s why we’re not concerned at all about the comings and goings of it, we think it’s the right decision.”

New Zealand boss Steve Hansen echoed Jones’ view. “We have to back World Rugby’s decision and if other teams miss out, it’s unfortunate, it’ll be disappointing,” Hansen said.

“If you want to be really ruthless, then it’s all about making sure you win the games on the way through because everyone knew this could be a possibility.”